Apparatus for freeing castings from sand and gates



\ May 26, 1931.v w. c. sPEeK ETAL 1,807,181

APPARATUS FOR FREEING CASTINGS FRO" SAND AND GATES Filed Jan. 14. 1929 6 Sheets$heet 1 INVENTORS 0 M /6. #MS

ATTORNEYS May 26, 1931. w. c. SPECK ETAL 1,807,181

APPARATUS FOR FREEING CASTINGS FRO SAND AND GATES 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 14. 1929 mvsm'om ATTORNEY:

ow mm m M N 3 1% m E NV I. 1 5 3 M y 26,1931! w-. c. sPsqK ETAL 1,f80 7,\18l

I APPARATUS FOR FREEING CASTiNGS FRO" SAND AND GATES Filed Jan. 14.1929 s she ts-sneet a mvEm'oRs I ATTORNEYS May 26, 1931. w. c. sPEcK ETAL APPARATUS FOR FRBEING CASTINGS FROI SAND AND GATES Filed Jan. 14. 1929 fisheets' sheet 4 rilL ATTORNEYS w. c. SPECK ETAL ,807, 8

MPARATUS FOR "BEING CASTINGS PROI SAID MID GATES med Jan. 14. 1929 G-Sheets-Shoot s mm u 1P cm. i. Q 1 .3 S Q 2 v uh mP NN v h H l y 3 1 J F P mm L w. x P@ PM 0% mm mum L N g. on m H NJ .MLPU ui "Z. J o run, mi L r m ,n um. z 3 E. 8 N m /////////////I n m.

.w EN

w. c. SPECK ET AL APPARATUS FOR FREEING CASTINGS FROM SAID AND GATES May 26, 1931.

Filed Jan. 14. 1929 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 folllzllzll l lll iiii a Illlllll E INVENTORS ATTORNEYS Patented May 26, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM C. SPECK AND EUGENE BARKER, F COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIGNORS TO THE BUCKEYE STEEL CASTINGS COMPANY, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, A 'C'ORPQEATION OF OHIO APPARATUS FOR FREEING CASTINGS FROM SAND ANT) GATES Application filed January 14., 1929.

3 claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4: represent a longitudinal section of an apparatus embodying the improvements.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of that portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view enlarged of some of the parts shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a top plan viewof that part of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged side elevation of a portion of Fig. 2.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a section 011 the line 10l0 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged sect-ion on the line 1111 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 12 is an enlarged section on line 1212 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 13 is an enlarged top plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 12.

Fig. 14 is a top plan view of that part of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1

Fig. 15 is an enlarged view partly in s1de elevation and partly in section of the cylinder shown in Figs. 2 and 7.

Fig. 16 is a partial enlarged end elevation looking from the left of Fig. 15.

Fig. 1'? is an enlarged section on the line 1717 of Fig. 16.

Fig. 18 is an enlarged partial end elevatlon loolrin from the right of Fig. 15.

Fig. 19 is an enlarged section on the line 1919 of Fig. 18.

Serial No. 332,344.

Fig. 20 is an enlar ed vertical sectional view of the cylinder shown in Fig. 10, the section being on the line 2020 of Fig. 10.

Fig. 21 is a slightly enlarged section on the line 2121 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 22 is an enlarged section on the line 2222 of Fig. 21.

Fig. 23 is an enlarged view partly in elevation and partly in section, the section being on the line 2323 of Fig. 22.

Fig. 2 1 is an enlarged section on the line 24241 of Fig. 21.

Convey 0r for refuse matem'aZ.Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the walls of a pit which is constructed below the floor line preferably of concrete. This pit extends throughout the entire length of the apparatus and has therein an endless conveyer which carries the sand which is knocked from the castings, as well as loose trash, toa suitable point of discharge. The carrier consists of an endless belt 2 which passes about an idler pulley 3 at the forward or right-hand end. of the pit (Fig. 1) and about a magnetic pulley 4 at the rear or left-hand end of the pitas viewed from; the drawings (Fig. 1). The under run of the belt is supported by a. series of straight idler rollers 7 and also by a large idler roller 5 which is placed near the magnetic pulley 41. The upper run ofthe belt is supported by a plurality of series of rolls 6, each series of rolls 6, as shown in Fig. 21, being so mounted upon a suitable bracket 8 as to impart a trough-shape to the upper run of the belt. A sheet metal box is placed in the forward end of the pit, the sides 9 and forward end 10 of which slope inwardly and downwardly so as to form in effect a chute leading to the con'veyer belt, with an open space between the lower edges thereof immediately above the belt. The rear wall of this boX is a Vertical wall as indicated at 12 in Fig. 3 and cooperates with another vertical wall 13 to form a chamber beneath the slogging devices to be later explained. Curtains 1 1 of flexible material are preferably hung from the lower edges of the sloping side walls 9 to close the space between these edges and the conveyer belt to confine the dust. A

series of inclined baffle plates 15, preferably of sheet metal are secured to angle irons 16 which in turn are supported by the sides 9 of the box, these baifle plates being for the purpose of checking the fall of any heavy substance which might have a tendency to in jure the belt. i

The supporting rolls 5, 6 and 7 as well as the magnetic rolls 4c, at the rear end of the pit are so disposed as to impart an inclination to the belt, the magnetic pulley 1 being located at a point above the pit as shown in Fig. 1. Beneath the pulley 4 is a hopper which receives the material carried by the belt (Figs. 1, 5 and 6). c This hopper has a tra nsversely-arranged division wall 1" which divides it into two compartments, one to receive the non-metallic material such as the sand and the other to receive any metallic substances. The stand compartment is located immediately beneath the discharge end of the belt and is formed by the division wall 17, end wall 18, sloping side wall 19 and vertical side wall 20. Leading front the i bottom of this compartment is a forwardly inclined floor 21 which projects into a chute formed by the upper inclined wall 22, lower inclined wall 23, side wall 24 and continuation of the wall 20. The discharge end of this chute is above an endless conveyer belt 25 which leads to any suitable point of discharge. The floor 21 and inclined wall 23 are spaced apart to provide a passage-way between the same and connected with this passage-way is a pipe 26 which leads to a suction fan (not shown) to eliminate the finer dust.

The metallic substances on the belt 2 will be conveyed by the magnetic pulley to a point above the other compartment of the hopper and will drop onto an inclined wall 27 which cooperates with an inclined wall 28 to form a chute leading to a bucket 29.

Casting ca'mieaa fiupported by the walls of the pit are a series of transversely-arranged I-beams 30 upon which are mounted inverted channel irons 31 which form supports for the various mechanisms to be described. Supported upon the majority of these channel irons at each side of the pit are a series of standards (see Figs. 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9). Mounted upon these standards are stationary casting supporting rails 33, the rails being recessed as indicated at 34 to accommodate the nuts 35 of bolts 36 which fasten the rails to the standards. Also supported by the standards adjacent the outer sides of the stationary rails 33 are reciprocating bars 37. To support these bars each standard isprovided with a stud 38 which carries a grooved roll 39 which isloosely mounted upon a bushing 40 on the stud between collars 41 and 12 held in place by a nut 13. In order to prevent displacement of the bars 37 there is provided for each bar a keeper bar 44 arranged beneath the studs and cooperating with the rolls to hold the bars 37 to the rolls; these keeper bars 14 being connected to the bars 37 by bolts l5 surrounded by spacing sleeves 46. Carried by the bars 37 are pawls 17, each pawl having a stud 4e journa'lled in a bushing 19 carried by a rail 37; a spring being coiled about the stud with one end thereof bearing against the pawl and the other end inserted in an opening in the rail 37. These pawlsare so disposed that their upper edges are inclined upwardly and rearwardly so that when the bars 37 are reciprocated toward the forward ends of the rails the noses of the pawls will be rocked downwardly by contact with the castings which have been placed upon the rails and when the bars 37 are reciproc-ated rearwardly these pawls will engage the castings and move the same rearwardly upon the rails. At this point it should be explained that the castings are placed transversely across the rails 33 in suitable spaced-apart relation and are carried in successive. order by the reciprocating bars and their pawls to, first, the slogging mechanism, then to the gate breaker devices, and then to the point of discharge.

To reciprocate the pawl carrying bars 37 and their connected keeper bars 1 1 there is provided a fluid pressure cylinder (see Figs. 2, a, 7, 15, 16, 17, 18 and: 19). This cylinder is indicated at 51, its forward head being indicated by 52 and its rear head by 53. A pis ton 5 1 is mounted in the cylinder and has a rod 55 which projects through the forward head and has connected with its outer end a yoke-shaped member 56 which in turn is connected with the pawl bars 37 and keeper bars 44 as shown in Figs. 2 and 7 This cylinder is supported by two of the channel members 31 previously referred to. Provision is made for automatically relieving the pressure of the fluid in the cylinder at the end of each stroke thereof. Secured to the forward head 52 is a spring casing 57 which has fastened to it a valve chamber 58. A supply pipe 59 leads from a suitable source of controlled air pressure and exhaust to the valve chamber 58 and a second pipe 60 leads from the chamber to the rear end of the cylinder. The chamber 58 has apoppet valve 61 which is normally held to its seat by a spring 62 which surrounds the valve stem 63 on the outside of the chamber and-is interposed between the wall of the chamber and a collar 64: on the stem.

duced portion 66 surrounded by aeoil spring 67, which is interposed between the end wall of the casing and the shoulder formed by the reduced portion, this spring 67 being of greater strength than the one 62. This plunger has a reduced stem 68 which projects through the cylinder head 52 into the Located in the spring casing is a plunger 65 which has a recylinder so as to norm-ally stand in the path of the piston. Pivoted in a slot formed in the wall of the spring casing is a lever, one arm 69 of which carries an adjustable pin 70 which cooperates with the end of the valve stem 63 and the other arm 71 of whichha's a cam roller 72 which cooperates with the cam face 73 on the plunger 65. With the piston in the position shown in Fig. 15, the plunger '65 is pressed rearwardly by the spring 67 to bring the cam roller 72 on the high part of the cam surface so as to maintain the valve 61 in open position as shown in Fig. 19. By admittingair from the operators controlling station to the pipe 59 therefore the piston is moved forwardly in the cylinder 51 and so soon as it contacts with the stem 68 the plunger 65 is moved forwardly, the cam roller 72 rides to the low part of the cam and the valve 61 is closed by the spring 62 so as to shutoff the air supply and stop the movement of the piston ina forward direction. 7

Connected with the rear end 53 of the 1 cylinder is a spring casing 7% having therein stops.- The plunger is internally threaded to receive a threaded portion of a stop pin 80. The forward end of this pin projects into the cylinder while the rear end projects through the end wall of the spring casing and has a hand wheel 81 by which its position in the plunger may be adjusted. Supported by the spring casing 74 is a valve chamber 82 to which leads a pipe 83 from any suitable source of control compressed air and exhaust and from which leads a pipe 84 to the forward end of the cylinder. A poppet valve 85 is arranged between the inlet and outlet openings of the valve chamber and is normally held closed by a spring?" 86 which surrounds the stem 87 of the valve on the outside of the chamber, the spring being interposed between the end wall of the chamber and a collar 88 on the. stem. A lever is pivoted in a slot on the under side of the i spring: casing, one arm 89 of which has an adjustable pin 90 which cooperates with the end of the valve stem, and the other arm 91 of which has the cam roller 9:? which cooperates with acarn surface 93 on the plung i er. The spring 77 is of greater strength than the spring 86 so that when the pin 80 is free from the piston the plunger will be pushed forwardly by the spring 77 to cause its cam surface to operate the cam lever to open the valve. -When the piston contacts with the pin 80 upon its rearward stroke however the plunger is pushed rearwardly so as to permit the cam roller to ride upon the low part of the cam and the spring 86 to close the valve. The point at which this action takes place is determined by the position of the adjustable pin 80 so that provisionis therefore made for regulating the stroke of the piston. An advantage in this arrangement is that it effects economy in the air supply to the cylinder in that it prevents air pressure from building up inthe cylinder after the piston has reached the limit of its stroke in'either direction, this being particularly true upon the to ward or unloaded stroke of the piston which requires a comparatively small'air pressure con'ip-ared to the maximum air pressure.

From this description it will be seen that the valves 61 and 85 are normally held open by their springs and that when fluid is being admitted by one valve it is exhausting by the other valve; also that when the piston reaches'the point near the limit of its stroke in either direction it closes that valve which is admitting the fluid. The fluid is controlled at a central station (not shown) the operator admitting fluid under pressure to either one of the pipes 59 or 83 and opening the other pipe to. atmosphere.

Slogger me0hamIsm.The apparatus ha been particularly designed for cleaning large castings, such as side frames for railway car trucks from which the .core sand must be eliminated from the side of the casting.

Such castings are placed cross-wise upon the rails 33 in suitable spaced-apart relation with their open sides underneath and are fed rearwardly by the reciprocating. pawl bars in successiveorder to slogging mechanism. This mechanism is illustrated in Figs. 3, 10, 11, 12, 21, 22, 23 and .24. A pair of elevatin members 94 in the form of plates of heavy sheet metal are slidably mounted in slots 95 in the stationary rails 33 so as to stand vertically in spacedapart relation. Normally the upper edges of these plates are flush with or slightlybelow the upper sur faces of the rails 33 to permit a casting to be positionedoverthe plates by the reciprocating feedingdevice. The lower edges of these plates are connected with a cross beam 96 whose ends are slidably mounted in vertical guides '97 secured to the pit walls 1. This beam 96 is hung by rods 98 from an upper yoke 99 which is sec'uredto the upper end of the piston rod 100 of the piston 101 of a vertically arranged fluid pressure cylinder 102. This cylinder is carried by'the upper cap 103 of a hollow cylindrical head 104 which is supported by a pair of cross'beams 105 connected to vertical supporting standards 106 which are mounted upon the walls of the pit, the head 104 having ears 107 which are bolted to the beams'as shownbest in Fig. 22.

The yoke 99 has a pair of depending arms 108 which are slidably mounted in groove-ways formed in the sides of the head 104, these groove-ways being preferably provided with hardened wear plates 109 (Fig. 22). The lower ends of these arms'are connected by cables 110, which pass over sheaves 111, with counterbalancing weights 112, which act to counterbalance the weight of the elevating mechanism; The cylindrical head 104 also has a rear arm 118 to the lower end of which is attached an anvil consisting of a steel plate 119 on a wooden bufier block 120, this anvil being arranged .in line with the head 116. The anvil and hammer are located a suitable distance above the track and to elevate the casting (indicated at C) to position it between the anvil and hammer, air or other fluid is admitted under pressure to the lowor end of the cylinder 102-, the inlet port being indicated at 121 in an extension 122 of the lower head of the cylinder, this extension being fitted in *an opening in the lower cap 123 of the cylinder head 104 to further support the cylinder against lateral displacement. The upper and lower heads of the cylinder 102 are connected by rods 124 and the entire cylinder is hung from the cap 103 of the cylinder head. After the sand has been knocked from the casting by the hammer, the casting is again lowered to the rails by releasing the air from the cylinder 102.

The sand which falls from the casting during the slogging operation drops to the belt 2 and for the purpose of guiding the sand to the belt there are provided a pair of upper sloping plates 125 and a pair of lower sloping plates 126, these plates being enclosed at the ends by the vertical walls 12 and13 previously described. There is also provided just above the space between the lower plates 126 an inverted V-shaped baffle 12. which acts to check the fall of any heavy substance which would be apt to injure the belt.

Gate brea7ce'r.The mechanism for breaking the gates from the castings is illustrated in Figs. 3, 10, 11 and 20, this mechanism being located a suitable distance beyond or to the rear of the slogging mechanism just described. There is interposed in the stationary rails 33 short rail sections 128 which serve as faces for the anvil. These face members are mounted upon the upper sides of anvil members 129 which are each secured to and supported by a pair of upright channel members 130 which rest upon the bottom of the pit. The face members 128 are preferably secured to the anvil members 129 in the manner best shown in Fig. 11 in which it will be seen that the face members areprovided with a pair of recesses 131 to accommodate the nuts 132 of bolts 133. The anvil member 129 is also provided with a pair of recesses 134 to accommodate these bolts and a coil spring 135 is placed about each bolt and interposed between the head thereof and,

the upper wall of its corresponding recess. The adjacent ends of the rails 33 are also connected to extensions 129' of the anvil mem ber in a similar manner as shown in Fig. 3. By having the anvil faces as well as the ends of the rails 33 thus connected to the anvil member, instead of being bolted rigidly to it, the possibility of the anvil faces and the rail ends becoming loose by constant pounding is eliminated. It will be noticed from Fig. 3 that the upper surfaces of the faces 128 are slightly higher than the tops of the rails 33 and are approached by inclinations 128, this being for the purpose of raising the castings at this point a sufficient distance being supported by a pair of vertically ar-' ranged I-beams 143, one on each side of the supporting rails, which are set on and secured to short horizontal I-beams 144 embedded in the walls of the pit. V

l Vhen a grate is to be broken from the casting, the casting is placed on the anvil by the reciprocating feeding devices so as to position the gate beneath the hammer 139. The hammer is first raised by admitting compressed air or other fluid into the lower end of the cylinder from the pipe 145 through the pipe 145 and through the supply port 145, by the operator at the central control station. The piston is then forced downwardly to bring the hammer 139 in contact with the casting :1

gate by admitting air or other fluid under pressure to the inlet 146 from the central control station. As the piston moves downwardly, a check valve 148 closes the pipe 145 and the air exhausts through a comparatively large exhaust port 147 to the pipe 145, which has been opened to atmosphere by the operator at the central control station; this pipe 145 having a check valve 147 which permits the escape of thezexhaust but closes when air is admitted to the lower end of the cylinder to raise the piston in the manner before explained. It will be noticed that the exhaust port 147 is located somedistance above the lowerend of the cylinder, as a result of which,

after the piston has passed this port in its downward movement an air cushion will be formed in the lower end of the cylinder to cushion the piston and its connected hammer; the inlet port 145' being closed at this rod 13:8.

time by the check valve 148 (Fig. 10') Pro vision is also made for checking the upward movement of the piston and connected parts and to that end the upper head 149 of the cylinder is shown provided with a reduced chamber 150 into;- which moves a plunger 151 which is merely an extension of the piston As the piston moves upwardly air is exhausted through the port 146 but as soon as the extension of the plunger 151 enters the reduced chamber-150 the exhaust is cut oil? and the remaining air compressed between the piston and upper cylinder head to form a cushion.

The gates which are broken from the castings fall into a chute 152 which conveys them to a suitable receptacle 153.

General 0peratz'0n.The operation is as follows: The castings are placed cross-wise on the stationary rails at the forward or right-hand end of the machine as viewed in the drawings, with an open side down, as many castings being placed thereon as can be accommodated. Assuming that the reciproeating dog bars had been moved to their eX- treme right-hand position, then each casting will be placed closely adjacent its neighboring right-hand dog. The operator then admits air to the right-hand end of the cylinder 51 which reciprocates the dog bars rearwardly or to the left moving all of the castings in that direction, and then puts air into the left hand end of the cylinder 51 so as to return the dog bars to their original position, the dogs, by reason of their inclination, swingin down as they contact the castings so as to pass the same and immediately thereafter returning to their upright engaging positions. The operator then raises that casting which has been moved upon the elevating plates 94 by admitting air to the lower portion of cylinder 102, elevating that casting to a position between the hammer 116 and anvil 119 and then admits air to the cylinder 114: which operates the hammer in a well known manner to impart a series of blows upon the casting to knock out the sand. In due course a casting will be also simultaneous; ly moved upon the anvil 128 with its gate beneath the hammer 139 and by suitably manipulating the piston of the cylinder 136 the hammer 139 will be caused to deliver a blow to the gate to knock it from the casting. The sand and trash which fall from the castings are deposited upon the endless belt 2 and delivered to the chute at the rear of the machine, the'sand being diverted through one course and metallic substances through another course in the manner heretofore explained.

As the castings are moved rearwardly, new cast-ings are placed upon the stationary rails at the forward end of the machine and the castin s removed from the rear end of the machine after they have passed through the slogging mechanism and the gate breaker.

ject. matter of an application filed March 9,

1931, Serial No. 521,212, and claims for the motor which operates the reciprocating de vices of the casting-carrier have been made the subject matter of an application filed March 9,1931, Serial No. 521,213.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In an apparatus of, the character described which has a carrier for castings and devices located adjacent one point thereon to free the cast-ings from sand, of means for conveying a casting from the carrier to such devices, supporting the same in operative relation therewith and restoring the casting to the carrier.

2. In, an apparatus of the character described which has a carrier for castings and devices located? at one point thereabove for imparting-"a series of blows to the castings with an unobstructed zone between the carrier and said devices, of means for elevating a casting from said carrier through said zone in operative relation with said devices, sup porting the casting in elevated position during the operation of said devices and thereafte1-*-lowering the casting to the carrier..

3.v In an apparatus of the character described which has a carrier for castingsand a hammer and anvil located at one point thereabove with an unobstructed Zone between the carrier and hammer and anvil, of means for elevating a casting; from said carrier and supporting the same between said, hammer and anvil and thereafter lowering the casting to the carrier.

4;. In an apparatus of the character described whichhas a carrier for castings and a hammer and anvil located at one point thereabove with an unobstructed zone between the carrierand; hammer and anvil, of a pair of elevating; members beneath the hammer and anvil, and power means for elevating said members to position a casting in operativerelation with said hammer and support it during the operation thereof.

5. In an apparatus of the character de scribed having horizon-tally" disposed. track rails for supporting a plurality of castings and means for moving said castings sucecssively and intermittently along the track rail in spaced-apart relation, with a hammer located above the track rail,v of a pair of supporting platesno-rmal ly below the rails and movable in slots therein beneath said hannner, and means for elevating and supporting said plates to elevate a casting from said rails in operative relation with said hammer and support said casting duringthe, operation of said hammer. i

6. In an apparatus of thecharacter described which has a carrier for successively feeding castings in spaced relation and a mechanism for freeing the castings fromsand above the carrier, of means for elevating the castings from the carrier into operative relation with said mechanism located normally beneath the carrier to permit the castings to be deposited thereon.

7. In an apparatus of the character described which has a horizontal supporting track for a plurality of castings and means for moving said castings successively and intermittently along the track in sp aced-apart relation and also has a hammer located above said track at one point in the length thereof, of a movable support for the castings normally located below the rails and over which the castings are successively moved, and means comprising a fluid pressure cylinder for raising and lowering said support.

8. In an apparatus of the character described which has a horizontal supporting track for a plurality of castings and means for moving said castings successively and intermittently along the track in spaced-apart relation and also has a hammer located above said track at one point in the length thereof, of a pair of vertically movable supports in the line of the track beneath said hammer, a cross beamto which said supports are connected, an overhead fluid pressure cylinder, a crossmember connected with the piston rod of said cylinder and connections between said cross member and said beam.

9. In an apparatus of the character described which has a horizontal supporting track for a plurality of castings and means for moving said castings successively and intermittently along the track in spaced-apart relation and also has a hammer located above said track at one point in the length thereof, of a pair of vertically movable supports normally below the track beneath said hammer, a beam to which said supports are connected, an overhead fluid-pressure cylinder, a crossmember connected with the piston rod of said cylinder, connections between said crossmember and said lower beam, and counterbalancing weights for said support, beam, eross-member, and connections.

10. In an apparatus of the character described which has means for supporting and carrying a plurality of castings with mechanism for eliminating the core sand from the castings at a certain point in the length of the carrier with means for elevating the castings successively to the core sand eliminating means, of an endless conveyor beneath said supporting and carrying means, there being an unobstructed zone between the conveyor and the core sand eliminating mechanism whereby the core sand may fall from said mechanism through thesupport and carrier onto the conveyor.

.11. In an apparatus of the character de scribed which has means for supporting and carrying a plurality of castings with 1nechanism for eliminating the core sand from the castings at a certain point in-the length of the carrier with means for elevating the castings successively to the core sand eliminating means, of an endless conveyor beneath said supporting and carrying means, there being an unobstructed zone between the conveyor 

